Elia Viviani claims maiden Tirreno-Adriatico victory

Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step) imposed himself for the first time on the roads of Tirreno-Adriatico as he won a bunch sprint in Foligno, beating no less than triple world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and his arch-rival, Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates). Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) came safely home to retain the lead in the overall classification.

The stage winner, Elia Viviani, said: “It’s been a pretty quiet stage. Sometimes, breakaway riders take up to a 12-minute lead. Today we made a deal straight away with UAE Team Emirates so we controlled the race with one rider each. The finish was technical but the last curve wasn’t dangerous. Peter Sagan launched the sprint sitting on his saddle. He’s not a pure sprinter but, after 230km of racing, he can beat any of us. Fortunately, I still had some extra speed that we’re never sure to have left at the end of such a long race. This is my first race on Italian soil wearing the tricolour jersey so I’m enjoying every moment even more.”

The Maglia Azzurra, Adam Yates, said: “The next two stages are definitely the hardest of the race. Stage 5 looks pretty nasty but, as I said before, we’ll take it stage by stage. The guys looked after me all day. They kept me fresh for tomorrow and we’ll try something. I have two opportunities to gain the time I need before the closing ITT. If it’s tomorrow, it’s great; otherwise I’ll wait for another day.”

STATISTICS

Elia Viviani scored the 155th Italian victory in the history of Tirreno-Adriatico but it’s the first one since Adriano Malori took the inaugural individual time trial in 2015. It’s been the longest drought for Italian riders in the Race of the Two Seas: 24 stages won by foreigners. Malori was also Italian time-trial champion when he won at Lido di Camaiore. The last Italian road-racing champion to win a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico was Paolo Bettini – stage 4 to Paglieta in 2004 (he was leading the overall classification and went on to win stage 6 to Torre San Patrizio).

With 17 wins this year, Deceuninck-Quick Step takes the lead of the victories tally among all professional teams for the first time in 2019. Astana is second with 16, Mitchelton-Scott third with 13.

It’s Peter Sagan’s 19th podium in a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The first one was stage 3 to Terni in 2012 on the eve of his first stage win in Chieti. The last one was a second place to Marcel Kittel on stage 6 to Fano last year.

In Foligno a historical jousting tournament, known as “Giostra della Quintana”, takes place every June and September, since 1448. The Quintana is a dummy soldier statue, with the ring that must be impaled by the competing knights.

The printing business is another ancient tradition in Foligno – it’s here in 1472 that the Divine Comedy, the first book in Italian, was printed.